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CPI inflation stood at 4.1% in April 2019

Quick Update

Annual inflation stood at 4.1% YoY in April 2019, somewhat higher compared to 3.7% in previous month. One-off increase of excise taxes on tobacco contributed around 1.4 pp to annual inflation, excluding which prices increased by 2.7% YoY. Over the same period, core inflation* came in at 3.6% YoY being almost unchanged from 3.5% YoY in March.

Higher prices on food and non-alcoholic beverages (+4.1% YoY), alcoholic beverages and tobacco (+21.4% YoY), predominantly driven by increased excise tax on tobacco, and recreation and culture (+7.2% YoY), mainly due to more expensive tourism services, contributed most to the annual inflation. At the same time, prices went down on clothing and footwear (-7.6% YoY). More moderate price decrease was observed in communication (-2.2% YoY).

According to the latest statement of the central bank, pressures on prices from the aggregate demand growth still remains weak. NBG reiterated that the central banks usually do not react to exogenous price increases likely implying that the Monetary Policy Committee will not act on the recent price increase driven by excise taxes.

At the same time, monthly inflation came in at 0.2% as of April. On seasonally adjusted annualized terms estimated April monthly inflation stood at around 6.7% being high as in the previous month.